I Like My Clicky Keyboards, but This Is a Bit
Much, Even for Me

post from Daring Fireball on 21 August 2012 04:03:15 PM. © Daring Fireball

I still think it’s cool, though.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWqqtybjzXE

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HealthTeacher Creates Anti-Bullying Mobile Game
Awesome Upstander!

post from prMac on 21 August 2012 03:50:00 PM. © prMac

HealthTeacher has released Awesome Upstander!, a fun mobile game that teaches kids how to stand up to bullies in a safe and positive way. Filled with challenges, levels, hidden objects and fun sound effects, Awesome Upstander! is designed to engage kids just like other popular interactive games while promoting social good. The app offers a highly entertaining play experience for kids while teaching them they have the power to diminish bullying by banning together as upstanders.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-46944.htm

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Totmob Releases Tunes4Fun - Elves, a Modern
Electronic Simon Says Game

post from prMac on 21 August 2012 03:35:00 PM. © prMac

Totmob, a division of Kinetics, has announced the release of its Tunes4Fun - Elves mobile game for iOS and Android. Tunes4Fun is a lighthearted version of the classic Simon Says Game, where the player's memory will be tested. Instead of a round game device with four colored buttons, the game space is a snowy scene with Santa and three cheeky elves. The user can choose from 3 different sound types and the game goes on until the user presses the wrong button.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-46943.htm

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MEI Introduces Nervous Pixel, Its New Creative
Division

post from prMac on 21 August 2012 03:20:00 PM. © prMac

Managing Editor Inc. today announced the launch of Nervous Pixel, its new internal creative services division. Nervous Pixel offers complete creative solutions for all forms of digital communication, with particular expertise in custom tablet design and the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. The official announcement marks MEI's continued industry presence offering a full menu of professional creative services, including design, production, project management and HTML development.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-46942.htm

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A Denser Star for Lesser Planets to Orbit

post from Daring Fireball on 21 August 2012 03:02:44 PM. © Daring Fireball

Speaking of David Foster Wallace, Newsweek has an excerpt from D.T. Max’s Wallace biography, regarding the run-up to and writing of Infinite Jest.

(Thanks to Chris Long.)

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/david-foster-wallace-on-the-brin
k-of-infinite-jest.html

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The next phase of the Apple Samsung case: straw
polls and sandwiches

post from Apple on 21 August 2012 03:02:44 PM. © Apple

Lawyers will make closing statements today in what has been dubbed the technology trial of the century. The epic dust-up between Apple and Samsung is far from over, though. Here is a plain English guide to how the jury will decide the verdict, how the judge can overrule them and what happens next.

What exactly is going on today?

After almost a month long trial, this is the finale for Apple and Samsung lawyers. Each side will sum up for the jury why their opponent ripped off their technology, and why the other sides’ patents are not valid. The judge will then give instructions to the jury and tell them to complete a 22-page form that will provide the answers.

The form makes an IRS look simple by comparison. It requires the jury to say if a dozen or so Samsung products like the Droid phone and Galaxy tablets violate patents for the iPhone and the iPad. Likewise, jurors will have to say whether Apple’s products infringed the Samsung gadgets. If the jurors find infringement, they will also have to decide if the copycat did it on purpose and how much they should pay. And there is more. They will also have to plumb other arcane corners of intellectual property law like “trade dress” and “prior art.”

To get a flavor of what the jury will face, here are sample questions from the proposed jury form:

What will the jury do then?

Possibly as soon as today, the nine jurors will march off to the jury room to hash things out. Typically, they begin by electing a foreman although there is no requirement for them to do so. (Alas, there is no “hipster juror” like the one who provided laughs in a recent New York trial.)

Will they just dive right in or take a straw poll first?

According to Brad Lyerla, a senior patent attorney with Jenner & Block, the first thing most juries do is take a straw poll about the verdict. Lyerla says jury research shows that the outcome of this initial poll will almost always reflect the final verdict — even if that straw poll produces a tight 5-4 vote. What this means is that a majority of the jurors will have already made up their minds and will eventually persuade the others to join them.

Does the jury have to be unanimous?

In this court, yes.

What if they can’t reach a consensus?

If they can’t agree on anything, that means a mistrial and back to square one. But there are dozens of issues to decide in this case and the jury will almost certainly come to a decision on most or all of them. Those decisions will stand and a failure to reach agreement on some questions will not derail the whole case.

How long will it take the jury to reach a decision?

“There are many claims and different issues of law. This is not an up-or-down, yes or no type of verdict. It will be a matter of days. It won’t be less than a day,” said Peter Toren, a veteran IP litigator with Weisbrod, Matheis & Copley.

Will there be any clues ahead of time?

“The jury room is sacrosanct,” said Lyerla. Lawyers might hear rumors from a bailiff that the jurors were yelling but otherwise the process is secret. The jury may also send out a question to the judge. “People like to read those questions like the entrails of a goat.”

Does the jury get to leave?

If Judge Lucy Koh orders them to remain in the courthouse, the court will pick up the tab for a lunch order. “One day it’s pizza day, or hamburgers or sandwiches .. It’s not lavish,” said Lyerla. “It’s like an office setting where you’re having a meeting at lunch time.”

Is it the end when the jury finally issues a verdict?

It’s the end for the jurors but, for Apple and Samsung, it’s more like the end of the beginning. Both Toren and Lyerla say the companies will likely ask for a “judgment not withstanding verdict,” a request for Judge Koh to replace the jury’s conclusion with one of her own. She can do this if she concludes no “rational jury” would have come to a particular decision. Once the final verdicts are entered, the companies can then appeal. “This could go on for a year,” said Lyerla.

(Images by Everett Collection and Alita Bobrov via Shutterstock)

Read The Full Article:
http://gigaom.com/2012/08/21/the-next-phase-of-the-apple-samsung-case-straw-polls
-and-sandwiches/

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Upcoming Android Nikon Coolpix Camera

post from Daring Fireball on 21 August 2012 02:02:55 PM. © Daring Fireball

Think about Instagram on this. Or Dropbox. Or something like iPhoto for making adjustments. The digital camera need not be a computer peripheral — it could be its own standalone device. Snap photos, tweak them using apps on the camera itself, and upload them to Dropbox or Flickr or whatever for long-term storage.

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Read The Full Article:
http://nikonrumors.com/2012/08/20/first-pictures-of-the-upcoming-android-nikon-co
olpix-camera.aspx/

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Leaked Official Apple iPhone 5 Promo Video

Looks like an even better camera lens than the aforelinked Android-based Nikon.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/29903123779/replacing-human-connection

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David Foster Wallaces Word Notes in the Oxford
American Writers Thesaurus in OS Xs Dictionary App

Dave Madden (posted a year ago, but news to me):

A couple years ago, I blogged about my beloved Oxford AmericanWriter?s Thesaurus, and how it includes little bits of copy aboutwords and their usage by writers like David Foster Wallace,Francine Prose, Zadie Smith, Simon Winchester, and the composerStephin Merritt (among others). I bought a copy online and keep italways near my desk.
Did you know everyone already has a copy on his or her Mac?
It?s part of the built-in dictionary. Type in a word, click on?Thesaurus? in the little bar above, and you?ll get theword-for-word entry from this book I paid money for.
Better yet, it also has all the ?Word Notes? by these writers.

Madden includes a list of Wallace’s entries, but several of them are hard to find, (all of is at all), and there are several I could not find at all: as, beg, bland, dialogue, dysphesia, fervent, individual, loan, toward, utilize. But the ones that are there are a joy to read.

(Thanks to Jacob Rus.)

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.davemadden.org/blog/2011/07/a-discovery/

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Contrarian alert: The downside of an Apple
victory over Samsung

Most Apple-Samsung patent trial watchers hold the same assumptions about potential outcomes: If Apple wins, the judgment will show current and future copycats the price to pay for imitating Apple products. If Samsung wins, it’s a license for anyone to develop and sell products that could be possibly confused for Apple’s best-selling designs, ultimately hurting Apple’s bottom line.

But what if the opposite is true? UBS analyst Steven Milunovich put forth a thoughtful note to clients Tuesday arguing that it’s ultimately in Apple’s best interest if it loses this case against Samsung. How could that possibly be? Here’s the argument:

In the short- to intermediate-term, an Apple win forcing competitors to come up with different designs should be positive because Apple is a better designer and could have a monopoly on key features. In the long run, however, it could hurt Apple because the real threat is not a competitor beating Apple at its own game but instead changing the game. The likelihood of Apple being leapfrogged or a rival creating a new category is greater if they have to think out of the box. If they just copy Apple, like Coke, Apple can claim to be ‘the real thing.’

“The real threat is not a competitor beating Apple at its own game but instead changing the game” — that’s a really interesting observation. Especially since that’s basically Apple’s corporate M.O. The company has been able to climb to the very top of the technology and business worlds because it’s changed “the game” on so many of its competitors — RIM, Nokia, Microsoft, Dell and HP among them.

Apple winning could force other companies to pursue real innovation in terms of phone and tablet form factors, how content is delivered, and more. But following either a win or a loss, it doesn’t mean Apple will sit still either.

Read The Full Article:
http://gigaom.com/apple/contrarian-alert-the-downside-of-an-apple-victory-over-sa
msung/

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